I hate cyclists!

[kvof]

A lot of cyclists, even those who are motorists, seem to think that different rules of the road seem to apply to them.

One solution to is to get more motorists cycling and then they would see how dangerous it can be. Such obstacles as parked cars moving, opening of doors, crater-like opt holes, drivers who don't pay any head to cyclists etc. certainly don't help.

Most of my shorter journeys in Dublin city nowadays I do on foot. Cycling is just too risky except at off-peak times.

I also have cycled in Denmark, Netherlands and Germany all more cycle friendly places. It's more of the norm to use the bicycle there. Have also cycled in Belfast where it was much worse than Dublin - drivers didn't want you on the street at all !

Cycling has so many benefits - convenience, cheap, health, zero carbon, quick

[EoinMn]

I'm a cyclist and a motorist.
I used to have a bad habit of breaking red pedestrian lights, but I stopped that around Christmas.

Cycling and driving around Dublin and Galway I see far more dangerous driving than dangerous cycling.
Everyday a motorist will do something stupid, such as not indicating on a roundabout, which endangers my life.
Of course its only a small percentage of motorists, but they are lethal.

To cycle in an Irish city you must be a brave man/woman.

[Pidge]

Edit.

[PaintingMedium]

I hate courier cyclists, especially the punk crowd who cycle! I have seen a number of people crossing the road when the lights are green for them, cars stop and some bloody courier knocks them down and most of the time merely say sorry and leg it away!

The worst story that I was told was from my mother who worked in town. On the street she worked in an elderly man was killed after a cyclist knocked him down on the pavement. The most disgusting element was the cyclist left the old man lying there so a hit and run. People had seen it happen and cause they saw the cyclist with his red hear dreadlocks, they could easily identify him and they did, the Gardai caught the sap, he denied doing it but cause he was so unique in identity and with so many wintesses, he was found out!

[NotDevsSon]

I'm a cyclist and a motorist.
I used to have a bad habit of breaking red pedestrian lights, but I stopped that around Christmas.

Cycling and driving around Dublin and Galway I see far more dangerous driving than dangerous cycling.
Everyday a motorist will do something stupid, such as not indicating on a roundabout, which endangers my life.
Of course its only a small percentage of motorists, but they are lethal.

To cycle in an Irish city you must be a brave man/woman.

I agree that bad drivers are a menace to cyclists. The problem is that while a wreckless minority of drivers are that menace, it seems that cyclists in general are.

To give an example. Today I crossed with the pedestrian lights at green at the bottom end of O'Connell Street. On both side of the street someone cyled through the lights. At the top end of the street I had to cross the street to go to Parnell Square. Again the lights were green and a number of cyclists cycled straight through. I had to stop walking in the middle of the street to avoid being hit by a cyclist. I went up to the Hugh Lane Gallery. When I came out someone was cycling between tourists on the street. I went to my bus-stop. Some ****************************************** was cycling on the right hand side of the street (from his point of view), zigzagging through stationary buses at the terminal. He then swerved without looking across to the left hand side, through a chorus of blowing horns from car drivers who nearly hit him. but he didn't even look back to see what had happened. I don't know if he heard the commotion behind him or realised it was about him. I could see he had an iPod on. I watched him come to the lights where the street meets O'Connell Street. The lights were red so he swerved up onto the footpath and whizzed around the corner. If anyone had been coming out of the shop at the corner he'd have hit them (and no doubt blamed them for the accident!).

The wreckless of so many cyclists in this city is astonishing. It would be one thing if it is was a minority, but it seems to be the overwhelming majority. I once even saw a nutter try to outcycle a LUAS as it crossed O'Connell Street from Middle Abbey Street. Most of us just stared, presumed the LUAS had hit him, but noticed it still going. When it passed we could see him zigzagging through cars and through lights on up the left side of O'Connell Street. The man beside me, who like me thought there was no way the Luas could miss him, said to me as we both watched "that idiot deserves to be killed." I was thinking the exact same. I wouldn't have had an ounce of sympathy for him if the Luas had run him over. I'd have saved my sympathy for the people would would have deserved it: the driver and passengers had an accident happened.

That's why I am so anti-cyclist. It is not because I don't think cycling is A Good Idea. i'd be quite happy if twice as many people cycled. It is just that those who cycle in Dublin seem for the most part to be maniacs who think they can break every rule, cut every corner, go through every red light, and not cause an accident, and if they do cause an accident it of course will be the unfortunate pedestrian/driver's fault, never the idiot of the cyclist. If people cannot cycle safely then they should not be allowed on the road. If necessary their bicycles should be taken off them. They are a menace to themselves and everyone else.

[Trampas]

But the bike is great for going to the pub.

[Pidge]

NotDevsSon, do you tend to notice a cyclist stopped at the lights?

[johnfás]

I agree with PaintingMedium about cycling couriers. They tend to be very bad at cycling safely in my experience.

[SPN]

But the bike is great for going to the pub.

Unless you are a designated driver who has a drunk cyclist stray out in front of them.

[johnfás]

Is there law governing drunk cycling? I know a guy who got breathalysed and taken home to his parents!! Not sure on what grounds.